Fairy Tail High
by mfc6410
Summary: Lucy Heartfilia has just transferred to a new high school to escape the bullies of her old school. Will she face the same unhappiness at Fairy Tail High-school? Or will she find more happiness than she ever expected? A/U. I'm really horrible at summaries. NaLU, Gruvia, GaLevy, EzJel.
1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note: Hey guys! This is my first Fairy Tail story. I just sort of started writing it and thought I'd post it here to get some feedback! Um, summaries are hard to write and I hate them so sorry that sucks, hopefully the actual story is better! I sort of have an idea where I'm going with this. I'm always post to constructive criticism(please be nice) and suggestions for the story. I hope you guys enjoy!**

Today was the first official day of spring. The sun was bright outside and the weather was nice enough to be able to be comfortable in a light sweater and shorts. A young women with blonde hair strolled down the sidewalk happily humming to herself. Today had also been her first official day at Fairy Tail High-school. She wore a light pink camisole covered by a grey cardigan with the sleeves rolled up to her elbows, pair of light-wash shorts, thigh high socks, and a pair of black, tastefully tattered, combat boots. Her hair was partially pulled back and held in place with several bobby pins, she hated it being in her face so it was usually like this or in a ponytail. This girl was Lucy Heartfilia, daughter of very successful business man, Jude Heartfilia.

Lucy fished in her back pocket when she felt her phone vibrating, rolling her eyes slightly and muttering to herself, "I bet anything it's…"

She looked at the caller ID and sure enough… "Hi Dad." She tried to disguise the annoyance in her voice, she hadn't even been out of school 10 minutes and he was already checking up on her.

"Lucy? Where are you?" Her father sounded slightly panicked, which was ridiculous, he was ridiculous.

Lucy sighed, "Dad, you have to give me at least enough time to have gotten home before you freak out…" He was so over protective and overbearing.

"I did!" He practically wailed. Lucy stopped in her tracks and put her free hand on her hip.

"It takes 20 minutes to walk home! I've only been out of school for 10!" She reminded him.

"I really don't see why you won't let me send the driver Lucy, you shouldn't be out walking alone, it's really not safe, what if something happened to you-" "Dad! We live in life the safest neighborhood in Magnolia and it would be stupid for me to not walk such a short distance, plus I like to have the time to myself." Her father started to protest again but she cut him off.

"Okay dad! I have to go, there are some muggers here that say they want to beat me up and take all my money….NO! Not really! Ugh. I'm gonna take a longer walk, see you for dinner. Bye."

She tapped the 'End' button on the screen harder than was needed and stood in her place for a moment eye practically twitching from irritation hand fisted at her side. Lucy shoved her phone back into her pocket and stomped off. Her dad really worked her last nerve most of the time. Of course she loved him but you could say their relationship was not the best.

Ever since her mom had died everything had just kind of fallen apart.

Lucy's irritation faded quickly as she walked and her father was pushed to the back of her mind. It was such a beautiful day outside, she wanted to enjoy it a bit longer before going home.

She turned down the road which would soon lead her to a beautiful park that ran through her neighborhood. She loved it there, it was a huge park with a large pond in the middle of it, it was beautifully decorated at this time in the year with dark green grass, fresh buds of flowers and newly green and flowering trees. She felt there was so much life running through the park with all the colors and scents spring brought.

Lucy took a more obscure path through the park that she knew not many people saw or wanted to take, she liked it, she could enjoy the sound of nothing but the nature for a while, not disturbed by the sound of cars or other people's conversations. It was a nice change of pace from her full day at high school.

The path led into a thicket of trees, blocking her view of the rest of the park, and eventually arrived at a clearing. This was Lucy's favorite spot in the park though this was the first time she had come around to it in a few weeks.

She had been so busy with transferring schools and trying to keep up with her work throughout the process of touring new schools, going to school, dealing with life at her old school, she hadn't had anytime to take a leisurely stroll.

Lucy sighed and pushed thoughts of her old school to the back of her mind, it was in the past, she was at a new school now and she could get a fresh start.

A familiar scent wafted into Lucy's nose as a gentle breeze floated through the air, causing a happy smile to fall to her lips. One of her favorite things about spring, budding Honeysuckles. Not only did they smell amazing but you could also get a pinch of sweet delicious nectar if you pinched the bottom off.

Lucy looked around excitedly, feeling a bit like a child and not minding, her eye landed on a bush a little ways up a hill and she grinned before taking off quickly up the short distance. She reached the group of bushes in less than a minute and bent over to inspect the white and yellow flowers, finger tapping her chin delicately, trying to decide which one would be the best. After some deliberation she went for one of the yellow flowers, plucking it from the bush she straightened up and brought the small flower closer to her face.

With her thumb and forefinger, she carefully pinched the end of the flower which had been attached to the bush with her nails and pulled carefully. As the small tube from the center slid out a tiny drop of nectar balanced parlously at the end. Lucy quickly lifted it to her lips and sucked the little sweet drop out.

"Mmmm! It's been too long!" She squealed to herself. Trying to remember the last time she had enjoyed the sweet taste, she had to have been 14, so that would make it three years!

At that moment a startled voice came from behind the bush. "Hello? Is someone here?"

Lucy let out a surprised scream and stumbled back from the bush, tripping over her own feet and in the end falling on her back side none to gracefully.

From behind the bush rose a boy who was rubbing his eyes as if he had just woken up. Lucy stared at him. He had pink hair was wearing a black t-shirt with the white outline of a dragon on it, and strangely he also donned a white scarf, which Lucy found strange but then again, he had also just appeared from behind a bush, also strange. The rest of his outfit was blocked by the honeysuckle bush.

Lucy was very disoriented and flustered and her tailbone was sore now. What the hell was he doing behind a bush!

The boy looked down at her with a surprised expression. "Oh hey. Did you fall?" Lucy stared at him some more. He was so casual, as if he hadn't just given her a small heart attack, like it was totally normal to emerge from a bush.

"What are you doing behind the bush! You scared the life out of me!" She huffed, ignoring his question, she pulled herself to her feet, dusting her backside off.

The boy scratched the back of his neck sheepishly. "Oh sorry, I was just relaxing for a bit, I didn't mean to freak you out, I didn't think anyone came back here really."

Lucy was perplexed, "Why did you decide to relax behind a bush?" What an odd place to lay down.

He beamed at her. "It smells great! And it gives a little shade from the sun. It's a good spot!"

She raised an eyebrow at the boy. "That's kind of….weird."

He crossed his arms over his chest and raised an eyebrow at her as well before walking out from behind the bush while saying, "Well I'm not the one eating flowers…Talk about weird."

"I wasn't eating it! You can get a bit of…" She noticed his entertained look at her sputtering and closed her mouth, "Oh never mind…"

Now Lucy could see his full outfit, he had on white slacks which had been rolled up to mid calf and he was currently barefoot. She eyed him carefully. Her interest was peeked, how could it not be?

He looked to be about her age, she wondered if he went to Fairy Tail. She hadn't seen him today but it was a big school and she had mostly stared at her feet out of habit.

An awkward silence had fallen over them, at least she felt awkward, he seemed to be trying to figure something out, his hand set at his chin, his eyes studying her thoughtfully. Lucy looked away, embarrassed by his gaze. "Do I know you? You look familiar…" His deep voice was quizzical as he tried to figure out where he knew her from.

She shook her head, she would have definitely remembered him, it's not everyday you meet a guy with pink hair, a not-half-bad-looking guy with pink hair at that. "What's your name?" He asked her.

She looked back at him. "It's Lucy."

He tapped his chin. "Hmm, Luigi, you'd think I'd remember a name like that, odd name for a girl, or anyone really—"

Lucy's eye twitched, she had clearly not said 'Luigi' her name was not Luigi… "It's Lucy. Not Luigi."

The boy looked at her for a moment before letting out a laugh. "Oh good! I felt bad for you for a second!" He gave her a winning smile and her slight irritation faded immediately. He had one of those infectious smiles that made everyone else want to smile too, she could already tell.

He began to turn to walk back behind the bush, Lucy momentarily thought he was going to lay back down but he instead just bent over. As he was bending he spoke. "I'm Natsu by the way. Do you go to school around here?" He came back up holding a pair of black Doc Marten boots.

Lucy watched him walk back around the bush to face her again. "Um yeah, I just enrolled at Fairy Tail High-school if you know—" Her sentence trailed off as she watched his hazel eyes grow wider and he stared at her. "Did I say something wrong?"

Natsu brightened immediately and grinned widely at her. "We go to the same school! You just joined Fairy Tail? That's so cool! You're gonna love it!" His excitement was over the top. "You must really love school…" She said. Natsu nodded enthusiastically as his phone began to ring. "Fairy Tail is the greatest school ever, it's like home away from home." He said as he fished his phone out of his pocket, he looked down at the screen. "Oh I have to go. It was cool meeting you Lucy!" He said happily as he began walking away from her. "I guess I'll see you at school tomorrow!" He called over his shoulder with a smile and waved at her.

"Uh yeah!" She called lamely after him, he hadn't really given her a chance to say more than that. She waved shyly back at him and then she was left alone and confused as to what had just happened. She sat down on the grassy slope and tucked her hands around her knees going back over the encounter.

"Natsu, huh?" She said thoughtfully and found a small smile coming to her lips. What a strange boy.

—-


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Here's the next chapter! Sorry it's not very good. I feel like it kind of drags but I wanted to get all of the introductions in and kind of get a feel for how Fairy Tail High is. I'll try to pick up the pace in the coming chapters.**

Blaring beeps startled the blonde girl awake and she scrambled frantically to slam her fist on the snooze button, ending the offensive sound. Lucy groaned and stuffed a pillow over her head. She had never been a morning person.

After a moment of consideration of all the ways she could avoid getting out of her nice over-sized, comfortable bed Lucy huffed and rolled her way out of the covers. Feet landing heavily on the hardwood floor, she shuffled away to her bathroom to shower and get ready for her second day at Fairy Tail High-school.

After a nice warm shower and careful preparation of her outfit for the day Lucy had a bit more pep in her step by the time she stepped into the kitchen to grab some breakfast. While She had been getting ready she had recalled her run in with the pink haired boy named Natsu and she looked forward to the slight possibility that she wouldn't have to sit alone at lunch today.

In the kitchen Lucy found her father already with coffee and paper in hand and their maid, Virgo was just putting together a plate of food for him. Her father had hired Virgo about a year after Lucy's mother had passed to help keep the house up and to care for Lucy when she wasn't at school and he was busy at work.

Her father glanced up from his paper, looking at the stocks no doubt, and he greeted her happily, "Good morning Lucy! Looking forward to your second day at the new school?"

Lucy sat down as Virgo placed a plate in front of her, giving Virgo a small smile of thanks she began to eat her food giving her father a nod in response. He was always so over eager to talk to her any time they were in the same room it was off putting to Lucy. To her it felt forced and fake when he did this and it irritated her. He had spent too many years pushing her away for them to just be able to have a comfortable conversation over breakfast.

"Did you make any friends yesterday? I hope you're having a better time at this new place. I only want the best for my little girl—" He was cut off by Lucy abruptly rising from her chair. "Yeah Daddy, so far it's a lot better, but I don't want to be late so I have to go! Have a good day!" She said quickly as she gathered up her toast and headed swiftly for the door, waving as she went.

Unheard by Lucy, a dejected Jude Heartfilia slumped in his chair, "Have a good day too, I love you…" He had no idea how to talk to his daughter anymore and he hated it, not that she would let him if he knew what to say. It seemed everything her tried though made her shut down in front of him. The older man sighed and rubbed a hand over his face. Virgo patted his arm sweetly and collected his cleared plate. "She'll come around Sir." Jude stared at the door his daughter had just practically run out of, for a moment longer before he turned back to his paper, hoping Virgo was right.

Lucy skipped a few steps while she walked, she was almost to the high-school, humming to herself before she stopped sighing slightly as a pang of guilt worked its way into her chest. Maybe she had been to rude to her father, maybe he was just trying to find a way back to the relationship they had once had. Lucy shook her head and pushed her hair back from her forehead. She didn't know if that was possible.

"Hey! Luigi!"

A loud and excited voice pulled her out of her thoughts and her head snapped up, looking for the source. She could see Natsu jogging towards her.

She rolled her eyes but smiled lightly. "I told you, it's _Lucy_. L-u-c-y."

Natsu gave her a grin, he had far too much energy for how early it was Lucy thought, "I know, I was just messing with you." He gave her a wink before he fell into step next to her heading towards the main entrance of the school.

"So what's your class schedule like?" Natsu inquired, Lucy noticed that today he wore the same white scarf he'd worn yesterday when she'd met him. She wondered why he wore it. She made a note to ask him when she got the chance. "Umm," She fished in her satchel for the paper which listed her classes and teachers. She hadn't quite remembered it yet.

"Here.." She said as she handed the paper over to Natsu. He took it and studied it with a hand on his chin. "Huh, too bad we don't have any classes together. But all the teachers are great! Watch out for Elfman though in gym, he's kind of..intense?" Lucy nodded with a slight grimace. She hated gym.

"Who's your favorite teacher?" She asked Natsu looking at him out of the corner of her eye. They were at the front doors now, she pulled one side open and he pulled the other as he thought. Once they were inside the nice air conditioned building they paused and he stacked his hands behind his head facing her. "Hmmm, I don't know if I really have a favorite, they are all like annoying older siblings really!" He laughed, Lucy thought that was an odd thing to say but she was starting to understand that he was an odd guy. Not in a bad way of course. He just seemed so different from anyone she had ever known.

She gave him a small, skeptical smile. "Okay, I still say your weird. Teachers? Like siblings? I've never heard that one before." Natsu gave her a look like she was crazy. "What kind of school did you used to go to, must have been a miserable place!" Lucy shrugged, yeah, it had been. She glanced up at the clock on the wall, 5 minutes until school started for the day.

"We should probably get to class, I haven't learned my way around here yet, I don't want to be late." She suggested. Natsu looked up at the clock.

"Oh yeah! You're right, here, I can walk you to your first class so you don't get lost." He fixed her with a smile, did the boy ever not smile? Lucy waved her hands in front of her. "You don't have to do that, you—" She was cut off by Natsu grabbing her wrist and pulling her in the direction of her first class. "Come onnnn, no one will be surprised if I'm late, Macao basically expects it."

Lucy gave a small laugh at this. She didn't protest anymore and stepped up to walk next to him when he released her wrist. Honestly, she was really happy that someone seemed interested in talking to her and helping her out. It had been a long time since she thought she might make a friend.

The blond tried to pay attention to Natsu's idol dabble about all the reasons she was going to love Fairy Tail and also remember the path her was taking her on to her class. This school was huge and she saw herself getting lost often in the first few days. Within a few minutes they had arrived at her classroom, Natsu making a grand gesture as though the English classroom was the most impressive thing he got to present ever.

Lucy gave him an honest smile, "Thanks for helping me out Natsu, you're really nice." Natsu starched the back of his neck seeming slightly embarrassed by her praise. "Oh no problem! Maybe I'll catch you at lunch! I could introduce you to the group." He said as he turned to head off to his class. Lucy felt excitement blossom in her chest and she brightened with a grin she couldn't contain. "I'd really like that. See you!" She called after him with a wave before she turned to head into her own class. English with Wakaba as it read on her schedule.

As she had the previous day, Lucy took up residence in a seat at the back of the class, today however there was someone else in the back corner, face buried in a book. The girl sat up as though she was startled by Lucy's act of sitting down. The girl looked at Lucy for a moment before smiling at her brightly. "Hi! I'm Levy! I've never seen you here before, you must be new?" Was everyone at this school this happy at 8:30 in the morning? Lucy could feel herself in a pretty bubbly moody today though after her morning run in with Natsu and now this girl seemed to have the same sort of infectious happiness about her.

Lucy gave her a sweet smile, she thought that she already knew she and this girl would become good friends. "I'm Lucy, I just transferred here yesterday, but I didn't see you here in this class?" She asked curiously. She didn't think she would have missed this girl. She was very small, she reminded Lucy a bit of what she imagined a fairy to be, she had about shoulder length soft-blue hair, which was held back by an orange head scarf. She was a very unique looking girl.

Levy gave her a sweet smile as she closed her book. "Yeah, I wasn't feeling great so I wasn't here yesterday. But no worries, I'm all healed now!"

"That's good!" Lucy glanced down at the book Levy had been reading and her eye widened slightly. It was a book by one of her favorite poets. "You enjoy Leonard Cohen too!?" She practically squealed. She had a hard time meeting people her age who also enjoyed poetry let alone read it for fun at 8:30 in the morning.

A grin appeared on Levy's lips. "Are you kidding me? He's so great! You like poetry?"

Lucy nodded vigorously, "Oh yes! Well, really I like to read and write anything." Levy shifted in her seat a bit, Lucy could see the interest and excitement in her eyes. "You like to write Lucy?"

Lucy could feel a little blush rise in her cheeks, she didn't often talk about her joy for writing, mostly because she never met people who also enjoyed reading and writing like she did. "Um yeah, I'm kind of hoping to be an author someday, silly right?" Lucy gave a small laugh raising her hands to cover her cheeks, but Levy shook her head side to side.

"No! That's so great and cool! What kind of stories do you like to write?" Levy asked, genuinely interested.

Lucy felt her confidence boost a little at Levy's encouragement. She opened her mouth to respond but was cut off by the loud ringing of the bell, signaling the start of class. Their teacher, Wakaba is apparently what they were to call him, all the teachers at Fairy Tail went by their first names, rose, greeted them, and launched into a lecture about tools of rhetoric. Lucy gave Levy a small smile and scribble on the corner of her paper. '_I'll tell you about it after class_.'

English was Lucy's favorite subject and Wakaba was a very good teacher and really funny too. After class Lucy and Levy shuffled out of the class, Lucy telling Levy about the story she was writing.

Once they were in the hallway Levy proclaimed excitedly, "I want to be the first to read it!" She then became rather flustered and waved her hands in front of her. "Sorry! That's so presumptuous of me! You don't have to let me read it." Lucy laughed at the flustered girl.

"It's okay Levy, you can be the first, and probably only, person to read it. I'd be way to embarrassed to let a bunch of people read it!" Lucy squeaked, touching her cheeks which were blushing just thinking about a lot of people seeing her story.

Levy then inquired as to Lucy's next class and they found that they had the same schedule for the reminder of the year. Lucy was relieved that Levy seemed to be just as happy about that as Lucy was. The pair chattered happily to each other, as though they were old friends, on their way to the next class. Levy told Lucy about a few of her other friends here at Fairy Tail and said that she was sure they'd all love to meet Lucy.

They decided that Lucy would be introduced to them at lunch, she had a fleeting thought of Natsu wanting to introduce her to his friend group at lunch but it was quickly forgotten as they arrived at class and Levy introduced her to a girl named Cana who seemed very nice but also very apathetic about school, and a girl named Lisanna who practically oozed sweetness.

Their next two classes before lunch went basically in the same fashion. Lisanna had both of those classes with them also and they all got a long very well, Lucy felt more happiness after her first half of the school day than she could remember feeling in the past two years. She felt like she actually had a spot she belonged in this school, though she was the new girl she hardly thought of that as she walked to lunch, talking happily with Levy and Lisanna about their lives and just getting to know each other. They had a lot in common.

The cafeteria was chaotic and huge when they reached it. Levy and Lisanna continued in like the shoving boys and flying food it was the most normal thing ever Lucy however faltered and took in the scene with large eyes for a moment before realizing she would be left behind and hurried to catch up to the other girls. "Umm, guys? Is it always like this?" They gave her a confused look for a moment before realizing what she was talking about and they laughed together.

"Not always but it's not uncommon." Levy explained.

Lisanna nodded. "Yeah, Erza will probably break it up soon."

Levy gave a skeptical look. "Unless she's in the fray as well…"

Lucy followed them through the lunch line and got her food, eyeing the area of disarray ready to dodge free flying food at any moment.

Finally they reached a table which several people were already sitting at, unscathed by the wild happenings of the rest of the cafeteria. Levy called over the table. "Hey guys! I want you all to meet Lucy, she's going to be joining us for lunch!" Lucy gave a shy smile. "Hi everyone." Levy proceeded to point to everyone at the table and say their name. Lucy already knew Cana and Lisanna of course, she was introduced to a girl named Wendy who seemed a few years younger than the rest, along with a boy named Romeo, then two intimidating guys Laxus and Gajeel.

"Then those who are not here yet, Gray, Erza, and Natsu. Gray and Natsu are probably battling it out over there. Erza too maybe." Cana stated as she took a long swig from an opaque water bottle. Lucy looked at her strangely for a moment, Natsu? She was about to open her mouth to question their knowing Natsu but was interrupted, as if on que, by the spiky pink haired boy falling out of the dwindling crowd of rioters in a tussle with another boy Lucy didn't recognize.

"You idiotic flame brain!" "Stupid block head!" "Slanty eyes!" "Ice princess!" Lucy watched with wide confused eyes as the boys wrestled each other yelling out insult after insult.

"Um, Levy, shouldn't someone break them up?" Lucy asked Levy who watched the boys with disinterest Levy shrugged. "They do this all the time. They'll trie out soon enough…Or…"

Just at the moment a threatening voice which gave Lucy goosebumps rang out above the two boys and a beautiful red-head with a terrifying look on her face appeared. "Natsu! Gray!" The boys froze in their scrap immediately and jumped apart. "We'll stop! We're sorry!" They both said cowering together.

Erza, hand of her hip, pointed to the table and commanded they sit and eat like civilized people. When Natsu faced the table, he and Gray shooting each other glares, his eyes then found Lucy and a grin fell to his face. "Lucy! You found the group on your own!" He exclaimed plopping down in the empty seat next to her as though he had not just participated in a brawl. Lucy noticed he had a lettuce on his shoulder.

"Uh, Natsu, you've got a little something." She waggled her finger at his shoulder making a grossed out face. Who knew where that lettuce had been.

"Huh? Oh.." He said craning his neck to look at his shoulder, he flicked the lettuce away from him and shrugged. Lucy smiled slightly and turned back to her food, he was cute. Erza and Gray also joined the table, Erza's eyes landed on Lucy and she felt suddenly nervous. Levy chimed in.

"Erza! This is Lucy! She's going to be having lunch with us now!" Lucy gave the fiery red-head a smile and small wave, she felt like she was waiting to be judged. Erza's expression however immediately melted into a friendly smile and she waved enthusiastically from across the table. "Welcome Lucy! I hope we can all be great friends!" She said before giving Natsu and Gray a meaningful glare. They both shrank in their seats. Lucy gave a big smile, trying to not express her slight fear of Erza already.

Levy looked at Lucy, "You know Natsu already?" Lucy nodded. "We met yesterday after school—" She started to explain, only to be interrupted by Natsu, "This girl was eating flowers!" He announced as though it was the most amazing thing ever. Lucy glared at him, though it was obvious she was holding back a smile. "I told you, I wasn't eating the flower! You can get a little drop of nectar out of them and it's really good!" He grinned, "Sounds like eating flowers to me."

Lucy rolled her eyes but smiled and turned back to Levy who was watching them with raised eyebrows. Lucy was about to continue her story but noticed the look on Levy's face, "—What?" Levy just shook her head, a devilish smile appearing on the tiny girls lips. "Oh nothing." She sang and then redirected her attention to the group. Everyone talked happily about their day. Natsu and Gray butted heads several times but were quieted quickly by Erza's stern gaze. Lucy liked everyone at the table, Gajeel and Laxus didn't say much, Gajeel and Levy were also together, Erza was very mature for the most part, she learned that Romeo and Wendy were freshman and also the respective younger siblings of Natsu and Levy.

Lucy enjoyed watching them all interact, they were certainly a different group, everyone was interested in something different and some of them clashed but they all still seemed to have a wonderful dynamic in their group. They also all brought Lucy into the group so easily, including her in the conversation.

As lunch neared it's end Levy got everyone's attention again. "Okay everyone! Tomorrow is Friday, I think after school we should go out and celebrate Lucy coming to Fairy Tail!"

The first to leap to his feet and agree was Natsu, "Yeah! It'll be fun! Like a Lucy induction to the group!" He grinned down at her, bumping her with his elbow. Wendy and Romeo followed with their agreement, Gray gave her a smile and nodded his head, Erza made a determined pose and declared it would be the best induction to a group ever, Laxus declined, saying he had plans already, Gajeel grumbled but with a look from Levy he gave in and said he'd be there.

Lucy blushed at all the attention. "O-okay. Sounds like fun!" She couldn't remember the last time she'd had plans with friends on Friday after school. "What are we going to do?" She inquired to the group. Everyone looked thoughtful for a moment before Erza seemed to find the best idea ever. "We will go bowling!" Everyone seemed excited about that. Lucy had never been bowling before. She didn't want to tell them though because she felt embarrassed that she never participated in such a frequent activity for people because her father had never taken her as a child and she'd never had any friends to go with otherwise. They all decided to exchange phone numbers with Lucy so they could all text and keep up with the plans.

The bell ending lunch rang through the building and everyone started gathering their things to head to class. Lucy waved goodbye to all her new acquaintances as Levy pulled her towards their next class. Three more classes in the day and for probably the first time in her life Lucy was disappointed the school day was ending but she was also looking forward to coming tomorrow and being able to hang out with new friends after school tomorrow.

She couldn't keep the smile off her face for the rest of the day, transferring schools might be the best choice she'd had ever made in her life thus far.  
_


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: Here's another chapter. I hope you guys like it! Thank you so much to those who have reviewed and favorite and followed this story! I'm so happy others are enjoying my writing! I hope you guys keep reading and reviewing!**

Thursday night her phone had blown up with a group text started by Levy making sure everyone was still in on hanging out after school. They chatted about where they should meet and what time, Gray and Natsu constantly denying each others' suggestions until Erza told them to can it. It was eventually decided that they would meet up at 4 o'clock at the back parking lot of the school. Soon after the group text had calmed down she had received another text which had made her grin like an idiot for some reason. Natsu had sent her a text, 'Hope you're excited for tomorrow, Luce!' She was extremely excited and she told him so, 'You don't even know how excited I am :) I'm glad I met you guys.' After a moment passed her phone buzzed again with his response, 'I'm glad you met us too! See? Sleeping under bushes can have it's benefits!' Lucy giggled at this before turning to plug her phone to the charger and climbing into bed.

The next day was Friday and it couldn't pass fast enough for Lucy. She had butterflies of excitement and nervousness in her stomach practically all day. She was sure to tell her father that morning that she wouldn't be home right after school because she had plans with friends. He seemed to have conflicted feelings about her plan as he pressed his lips into an awkward tight concerned smile.

"Well I'm glad you're making friends sweetheart….Will there be, um, boys there?" Lucy rolled her eyes, was he really going to try and deny her this because of the presence of boys? "Yes Daddy, there will be boys, but they are good guys." She said, exasperated. Jude raised an eyebrow, "You've only known them for one day, how can you—" Lucy fixed him with her best pout, "Come on Daddy, please? These are the first friends I've had in years, I really want to go."

She didn't break eye contact with him, she could see him giving in. He sighed, "Okay, but you're to be home by 10 o'clock." She nodded reluctantly. Not that he personally would be around to see that she came home on time, but she knew he had spies that would tell him if she wasn't, she eyed Virgo who was studiously cleaning the stove top…Traitor.

It was now 10 minutes until the end of her last class on Friday. She had a hard time keeping her leg from jiggling un and down in anticipation. Part of the reason she was so anxious about the after school activities was because of what had happened the last time a group of people had asked her to hang out with them after school one day.

At her last school, her freshman year, there had been a group of girls that Lucy had desperately wanted to be friends with, they just seemed like a coolest girls to her and everyone seemed to want to be them. Lucy had gotten up her courage and inquired as to if they wanted to do something after school one day, after they had deliberated amongst themselves a moment they had smiled at her and agreed to meet up with her in front of the school after last class. When the time came, Lucy had excitedly waited outside for them to show up but they never did. The next day she found a note in her locker, 'Did you really think we'd hang out with the likes of you?' Lucy had been humiliated and her confidence and self-esteem sufficiently crushed and after that day her experience at that school had just gone down hill as she was constantly made fun of and never able to make a friend.

Lucy forced the memories from her mind as the bell dismissing them for the day rang out through the school. She gathered her things, half way listening to Levy tell her she was going to meet up with Gajeel and she would see her at 4. Natsu and the others weren't like those people at her old school she told herself. They had been nice to her and she didn't feel like she had to try hard to be someone special when she was with them.

Lucy was staring at the ground as she walked and convinced herself that tonight she would have the time of her life, she didn't even notice until it was too late that a scrabbling Natsu and Gray were tripping over each other and their momentum was carrying them right to her.

Lucy's eyes widened and she blanched, "Ahh! Oof." She squealed and then proceeded to be smooshed under the two boys.

"Lucy!" They each yelled in a panic. "Are you okay?" "Sorry!" Lucy twitched under the two buffoons who were still laid out on top of her in a pile. "Can't—breath—" She choked out. They seemed to realize her struggle quickly then and each rolled off of her calling each other stupid and blaming the other for hurting Lucy.

Lucy watched them bicker as she pulled herself up from the ground straightening out her clothes, and she couldn't help but start laughing. They both paused and looked at her like she was crazy. She shook her head and worked to compose herself. "I'm sorry, it's just….You guys remind me of an old married couple!"

She covered her mouth to hide her smile as horrified looks fell onto the guys' faces and they sprang apart. Gray grumbled that he had something to do before they were supposed to meet up and strode away leaving Lucy and Natsu in the mostly empty hallway. Glancing at her watch she saw they had about 10 minutes before they were supposed to meet up. "Hey Luce come on, walk with me to the parking lot!" Natsu said as he grabbed her wrist and pulled her along.

"Hey!" She squeaked as she was almost pulled off balance. "Natsu, you already knocked me on the ground once today."

He grinned sheepishly at her and let go of her wrist, scratching the back of his neck, "Sorry about that, are you okay?" Lucy rolled her eyes lightly and smiled, "Yeah I think I'll live. Do you guys always crush innocent by-standers when you fight?"

Natsu shook his head, "Nope! Just you! You're special." He laughed.

"Oh goody." She said, her tone dripping with sarcasm. Natsu smirked at her and bumped her side, "Don't worry Luce, I'll protect you from further damage by the Ice Princess."

"Umm, if I remember correctly, BOTH of you crushed me." She pointed out.

Natsu waved her comment off before stacking his hands behind his head. "Ehhh, who cares about the details.."

Lucy couldn't help but giggle. She glanced at him out of the corner of her eye as they walked in a moment of silence. He was a handsome guy, high cheek bones, strong and sharp jawline, wonderful hazel eyes, pink hair that went every-which-way but still looked good. He was really good looking and nice and funny, Lucy thought. She felt a faint blush rise to her cheeks and she looked back straight a head of her, she shouldn't be thinking like that! She'd only met the guy two days ago!

"Uh, Luce?" Wide eyes snapped to look at the pink haired boy walking next to her. "Did you hear me?"

Lucy gave him a sheepish look, "Sorry I was uh, distracted." She said, fiddling with the straps of her backpack so she didn't have to look at him as she blushed.

"Everything okay?" He questioned her. Lucy straightened up and smiled at him waving it off. "Oh yeah fine, I guess I'm just a little nervous about bowling." She said, not exactly lying, she was nervous about bowling.

"Oh? Why would you be nervous about that?" He asked pushing the door to the parking lot open and holding it open for her. She thanked him and shrugged. "I've uh, never been bowling before?" Trying to play it off.

Natsu blanched at her, jaw practically dropping to the group. "YOU'VE NEVER BEEN BOWLING?!" Lucy cowered away from his loud, disapproving disbelief and shushed him as a few heads of lingering students turned to look at them.

"Natsu you don't have to yell about it!" She reprimanded him. "No, I've never been, my Dad works a lot and just never had time to take me."

Natsu was still confused and staring at her slack jawed. With an exasperated expression, she reached out with a finger and pushed up on his chin so he would close it. "But one of your friends as a kid must have had a birthday party at a bowling ally or something!" He stated waving his arms about.

Lucy remained silent and looked off into the distance, not wanting to explain that she'd never really had friends before. Lucky for her, before Natsu could comment on her silence a voice called out to them. "Natsu! Lucy! Over here!"

Lucy looked around to see Levy waving excitedly at them, Lucy threw a smile to Natsu, "Race you." She said already taking off ahead of him. "Hey, no fair!" He called after her with a laugh.

They reached the bowling alley, Bowl Magnolia, around 4:30. Inside the alley was much darker than the afternoon light of outside. They had colored disco lights which moved seemingly randomly across all of the bowling lanes and a disco ball which spun at the center of the large room which provided light so they could see.

Lucy's eyes were wide with excitement after they set foot inside the building as she took it all in. Natsu had wasted no time telling everyone else in the group that she had never been bowling. They had all been aghast with the notion and became just as excited to take her on her inaugural bowling trip as she was to go. All of Lucy's worrying earlier she now felt foolish about, these people were different, they were good and nice and wonderful.

The group directed her to the counter where they all purchased their game time and shoes. They were directed to lane 10 by the man working the desk. After putting her bowling shoes on she followed everyone else's lead and went to look at the rack of different weighted bowling balls against the walls behind them. Lucy really had no idea how heavy of a ball she should get. All the boys, and Erza, had gone for the ones which were on the lower racks and seemed to have numbers in the double digits, she speculated those were heavier.

After staring at the different numbers and colors of the bowling balls she still had no idea what to choose, thankfully Cana and Lisanna saved her from feeling stupid any longer. "Just try a few different ones and pick the one that feels best, you want a little weight to it but don't like rip your arm out of socket or anything." Cana said as she pulled a ball with the number 8 on it.

"I usually get the 5 ball." Lisanna said with a smile, offering the ball to Lucy so she could test the weight. "Thanks guys! Sorry I'm so uneducated." She smiled. Lisanna laughed a little and patted her on the shoulder, "It's okay!" Cana smiled and pointed a thumb happily at herself. "That's what you got us for!" Lucy couldn't help but smile, so thankful they didn't think she was lame or unworthy of their time.

Natsu and Gray of course challenged each other, both of them declaring they would defeat the other. Erza claimed she would destroy them both, Lucy didn't doubt it. Gajeel was silent mostly, listening to Levy chatter on about something, she could see the soft spot he had for the tiny girl even after only knowing him for a day, he always had the tiniest hint of a smile when she spoke to him and Levy was so far the only person she had heard him speak actual words to.

Lisanna put everyones name into the machine that Cana explained to Lucy kept the score for the game. Soon enough Lisanna leapt up and clapped her hands together, "Okay everyone! Game time! Gajeel your up first!" Gajeel gave a grunt or recognition and rose to take his place on the bowling floor. Lucy watched as he went and grabbed his selected bowling ball from the thing that she was told sent the balls back after you had rolled it down the lane.

She tried to take note of what he did, the way he walked up to the line, the way her held the ball, pulled his arm back, swung it forward, and let the ball fly with impressive speed down the lane. She watched as the ball took out all but two pins which sat at either side of the lane, Lucy didn't see how he could possibly hit both of them.

A collective 'oooo' came from the group as though he had been dealt a harsh blow with the set up of the pins. She leaned over to Natsu who was sitting next to her, "He can't get both of those with one try can he?" Natsu smirked, "I mean it is possible but it's not easy," He said before raising his voice to be sure Gajeel could hear, "No way he'll be able to get it done." Natsu called with a competitive glint in his eye.

Gajeel shot him a glare, "Watch this flame-brain." Lucy was surprised he had responded at all but she watched as he took a breath, Levy piped up like his own little cheerleader, "You can do it Gajeel!" Lucy couldn't help but smile at the adorable girl's enthusiasm.

Gajeel took a moment to take aim and then let the ball fly again, Lucy watched in amazement as it hit one pin and sent it spinning into the other. Gajeel stood back, arms crossed over his chest, smirk on his face, "Geehee." Natsu grumbled something about luck, Lucy clapped along with Levy, Lisanna, and Wendy, the others in the group gave his brief cheers.

Up next was Levy, then Gray, Cana, and Erza, followed by Natsu, then it was Lucy's turn. Lucy swallowed, she found herself nervous again. Gray, Natsu, and Erza had each gotten strikes and Levy and Cana, while they hadn't knocked all the pins down had done pretty well. Lucy could feel her palms becoming clammy. Great, now the ball would probably slip out of her hand and roll the wrong way or kill someone in the group who foolishly thought they were safe behind her.

She went to pick up her ball and walked meekly up to their assigned lane. The blonde took a breath and tried to chill out, 'It's just a game, who cares if they are all master bowlers or something, I can do this, doesn't look that hard…'

She started forward, trying to mimic everything she had seen her comrades do before her. The ball felt awkward and large in her small hand as she brought her arm back and swung it forward. To Lucy's horror, she guessed she let go a little too late because instead of flying smoothly to the slick floor it hopped up in the air a bit before slamming loudly down in the lane and rolling quickly to the gutter.

She slapped her hand to her face in amazing embarrassment, 'Oh God…That was horrible.'

Lucy turned to face her friends, thankful for the dark atmosphere so they couldn't see the light pink which dusted her cheeks. She could see them all trying to hide their amusement at how bad she was. "Okay guys, come on, I'm horrible, you can say it." Cana, Gajeel, Natsu, and Gray let out a little snicker but shook their heads declining to say anything.

Levy smiled and encouraged her, "It's okay Lu-chan! You get another go! That was the first time you've tried this after all." Erza nodded in agreement. "Everything takes practice Lucy. You'll be better by the end of this game."

Natsu hopped up from his seat. "Here Luce, I'll help you." He grabbed her ball which had just been spit up by the strange machine before frowning slightly at it. "This is so light! Are you sure you don't want a heavier one?" Lucy pouted, it was heavy to her! "That one is heavy!" Natsu eyed her skeptically before shrugging and walking to her side and handing the ball to her.

"Okay," He placed his hands on her shoulders and guided her back to the lane. "So, when your letting go of the ball a few things to remember, when you are about to let go of it," He guided her right arm which held the bowling ball to a position so the ball was lower than her hip, "You wanna let it go low so it goes forward and not up."

She looked over her shoulder at him and he grinned and winked at her, she was taken aback slightly by how close he was, his hand still rested on her shoulder lightly and Lucy could feel her cheeks flush. She was again happy they had chosen a place with such low lighting. She couldn't help but notice how his warm fingers sent tingles down her arms and his breath ever so lightly brushed her cheek, she repressed a shiver.

'No.' She firmly told herself, trying to ignore Natsu's closeness. 'These are the first friends you have ever made, you can't ruin it by making it weird and having a crush on one of them.' She focused back in on what Natsu was saying as he stepped away from her to show her what he was talking about. "…and when you release the ball make sure you don't twist your wrist okay? It'll make the ball spin towards the gutter." He said as he showed her what position her wrist should stay in.

Lucy nodded, "Okay, okay, let's see if I do better now.." She said, somewhat skeptical. Natsu stepped back a pace to give her some space and crossed his arms over his chest as he watched her. She heard a few cheers of encouragement from Levy and Erza and then she sent the ball down the lane, trying to do the things Natsu had said. She watched, frozen with wide eyes, as the ball rolled, somewhat lazily, but on track no less toward the pins, not in the gutter yet, and finally she heard it contact the pins and watched as three fell.

Okay so she still sucked but she had hit the pins! She felt excitement swell in her chest as she gave a little jump and whirled toward the group, most of whom were cheering and laughing. "I hit them!" She squealed happily, then pointing at Natsu, "You're a good teacher!" He laughed, his hazel eyes sparkling with amusement as he watched her. In her excitement and midst of receiving high-fives from Wendy, Levy, and Erza, Lucy missed the somewhat disapproving and confused stare Lisanna had been giving her and Natsu.

After Wendy, Romeo, and Lisanna had gone the rotation started again and Lucy got more and more comfortable with bowling and figured it out. She even got one strike! Followed by some total misses but she didn't care, she was having so much fun. Gray, Natsu, and Erza decided to make their personal competition more interesting by adding style points to it. After that Lucy was sure they would get kicked out for disorderly conduct or something as the threesome spun, dove, and cartwheeled their way to tossing the bowling balls down the lane. Either that or they were going to end up at the hospital.

"Hey Lisanna is everything okay?" Lucy asked when she noticed the girl only watched the trio with a small smile and wasn't talking much. Lisanna blinked at Lucy as though she had been deep in thought. "Oh, oh yeah! I guess I just zoned out! Oh it's my turn!" Lisanna hopped up from the seat, her usual pep returned, and Lucy gave her smile, it nagged for a moment at the back of her mind that Lisanna had seemed to force that pep a bit but she didn't want to push the matter, she didn't feel like she knew the girl enough for that.

By the end of the first game Erza was the victor by 3 points, and Natsu and Gray were tied for second. Lucy had of course ended up in last place but she didn't care about it, she had more fun than she ever thought she could and got to know the others a bit more. She felt like being with this group was as easy as breathing, as though they had all been friends forever.

She learned that Cana's ever present "water" bottle was in fact a vehicle for her "special drink" which Lucy had been less surprised than expected, now the girls carefree demeanor and occasional slurred words made so much more sense. Erza and Gajeel were seniors so they would be graduating at the end of this semester, along with Laxus who was apparently the principle's grandson.

She also learned that Lisanna was related to Elfman and Mirajane, two of the teachers at Fairy Tail. "Oh how's that having them at school? Is it weird to be taught by them?" Lucy inquired before biting into a fry, they were almost at the end of their third game now and had decided to get some food from the bar which was in the bowling alley. She had been baffled at the amount of food Natsu and Gajeel had been able to stuff into their mouths everyone else deemed their caveman like behavior with food fairly normal.

Lisanna shook her head, "No it's pretty great! I love my siblings, though sometimes they are annoying at home, they get pretty overbearing about schoolwork and stuff." Lucy smiled as she rested her cheek on her hand. "I wish I had siblings." She said wistfully. Natsu plopped down at the table with everyone, the final game on pause as they had all taken a break to talk and eat. "Siblings are awesome!" He stated ruffling Romeo's hair. The boy smacked at his older brother's hands and ran his own hands through his hair as he became embarrassed by the little brother treatment.

Lucy thought they were cute together and wished she had a younger sibling. "So Lucy you're an only child then?" Lucy looked over to Wendy who had asked the question and nodded. "Yeah, just me!" Lucy shrugged, not thinking about the fact that she probably wouldn't be if her mom hadn't passed away. She remembered her parents always saying they wanted another kid but they could never find the right time and then it was too late. The conversation shifted then and they decided it was time to finish up their game, apparently Lucy wasn't the only one with a curfew of 10 o'clock and they still had to drive back to the school so everyone that drove could get their cars.

In the end Erza won every game and had Natsu and Gray sulking shamefully out of the bowling alley, not even having enough pep to argue with each other. Instead they just whispered to each other about how harsh and scary Erza was. She thought Erza was pretending not to hear them though she seemed very pleased with their view of her as she smirked all the way back to the car.

They all piled in to Gajeel's van, apparently Natsu had to sit up front or he'd get really sick, Lucy speculated that might just be a ploy so he always got shot-gun. Lucy was in the very back with Levy and a passed out Cana.

They finally arrived back at school around 9 o'clock and everyone unloaded from the car like it was a clown car, they were all laughing and telling Lucy stories about things the teachers had done in prior years and the events still to come before the end of the semester. She was really looking forward to the cultural festival they had told her about.

Levy was grinning widely from where she stood by Gajeel who had his large arm draped over her shoulders. "Guys this was so much fun! We should do it more often! Ladies! I want us to have a sleep over next weekend!" All the boys eyes lit with mischief. "We wanna go too! Sounds like fun!" Natsu said as he and Gray hooked an arm around each others neck, now looking like best friends with matching grins on their faces.

All the girls stared at them with unamused faces. "No." They said simultaneously, earning a pout from Gray and Natsu.

"Hey guys," Lucy started sheepishly, staring down at her shoes, "thanks for today. I had so much fun, I'm really glad I've met you guys." She glanced up to find ten faces grinning at her and Levy was the first to launch herself at Lucy and wrap her in a hug. "Lu-chan! I'm glad we met you too!" Lisanna and Wendy hopped forward as well to join Levy in hugging Lucy agreeing with the little blue-haired girl. Lucy had to force herself to not cry as she was embraced by these girls. She felt a happy warmth swell in her chest. This is what it felt like to fit in. To be accepted.

They broke apart and it was time for everyone to leave. Erza supported a very out of it Cana and escorted her off to her car to drive her home, waving goodbye to everyone. Gray waved saying he'd see them Monday. Natsu looked at Romeo, "Yo, make sure Wendy gets home safe and I'll see you at the house." Romeo nodded and fist bumped his brother before grabbing Wendy's hand and pulling her away from the parking lot as she waved goodbye. Lucy watched them go before looking at Natsu. "Will they be okay by themselves?" Natsu looked unconcerned as he adjusted his ever present scarf. "Yeah, he wouldn't let anything happen to her and he's like a black belt in karate so I don't worry."

"Hey Lucy do you need a ride home?" Levy asked her, Gajeel looked over his shoulder at her as though he wished she hadn't offered. Lucy smiled and shook her head. "No no, that's okay, I can walk, it's not too far plus I like the walk." Levy gave her an unsure look. "I don't know, it's dark out, I don't really like the idea of you walking by yourself…"

Natsu chimed in then, "I'll walk her home Levy don't worry." Lucy blushed, "You don't have to do that Natsu, I'll be fine—" "Lucy, he's walking you home or we are driving you!" Levy demanded. With a sigh Lucy put her hands up in defeat. "Okay, okay, you guys have a good night." She said waving as Levy, with a triumphant smile, closed her door.

"Which way do you live Luce?" Natsu inquired. She motioned to her left, "Do you know where Fiore Oaks is?" Natsu raised an eyebrow, "That really fancy neighborhood? You live there?" Lucy could feel herself blush a little as she nodded since he called it a fancy neighborhood, she didn't exactly like for people to know about her father's immense wealth.

"Cool! I live a few blocks down from there so you're even on my way!" Lucy brightened and began to lead the way down the sidewalk, she didn't feel as bad now that he had volunteered to walk her. "Oh cool, I'm glad it's not too out of the way for you, I was worried it'd be inconvenient." Natsu gave her a goofy grin. "I'da walked you home either way, no way I could let you go alone." Lucy smiled.

"So Natsu, is Romeo your only sibling?" She asked, trying to make light conversation. The pink haired boy nodded. "Yeah our dad adopted both of us kind of." Lucy blinked. "Kind of?" She asked, how did you kind of adopt someone? Natsu put his hands into his pockets. "Yeah, I just mean it wasn't like your traditional way of adopting kids. We weren't in the system. He found us living on the streets and long story-short, he ended up taking us in and eventually legally adopting us."

"Oh, wow, he sounds like a really wonderful man." Lucy said in awe of someone who would pull two young boys off the street and give them a home and family. Natsu grinned. "Yeah, Igneel is the best. What about you? What's your family like?" Lucy played with the ring on her right hand, it had an emblem of a sapphire crescent moon and little silver stars which twined around it. Her family?

"Umm, well, it's just me and my dad, my mom passed away when I was five. My dad is a businessman so he's busy a lot. There's also Virgo, she's our housekeeper and she helped take care of me when I was little, she's great, weird, but great." Lucy smiled at the thought of the quirky women who had always taken care of her, even if she doubled as a spy for her father.

"I'm sorry about your mom. What happened? If you don't mind me asking." Lucy looked over at him, he looked genuinely sad for her. She didn't think the look suited him, he should always be happy and smiling about things. "Oh um.." Natsu immediately put a hand up. "No worries, your business, you don't have to talk about it. Come on, ask me another question." He smiled at her and she was glad he understood and had immediately picked up on her not wanting to discuss the topic.

"Um, okay, why do you and Gray fight so much?" She giggled at the thought of the boys, they were so over the top. Natsu's shoulders slumped at the mention of Gray. "Ahh, there is just something about that guy that irks me, he's so cocky sometimes I just wanna punch him." Natsu shrugged and then smiled. "While those things may be true, he's also one of my best friends…You better not tell anyone I admitted that!" He threatened pointing a warning finger at her.

Lucy laughed and promised him she wouldn't repeat it to anyone. "You all seem like really good friends at Fairy Tail, even the people that don't like each other too much, it's so different." Natsu looked at her confused. "What? Your friends at your other school weren't close?"

Lucy sighed lightly and shook her head. "I wouldn't really know." Natsu raised an eyebrow. "What do ya mean?"

"I didn't really have any friends there…" She said hesitantly, kicking at a pebble that was in her walking path, being interested in all things that were not Natsu's reaction. She didn't want to see pity or whatever. "What?! How could you not have had friends?!" Natsu wailed in disbelief.

She glance up at him. He looked truly perplexed. "What?" She asked. Natsu made a grand gesture towards herself as a whole. "How did you not have friends?! I've only known you like three days and I can't wait to keep being your friend! I would have thought you had like, too many friends to handle at that other place." Lucy gave him a small smile, totally shocked by his reaction. "Really? Um, yeah no, I was kind of a loner there…" She said, not wanting to tell him really how bad is was.

Natsu exhaled letting the shock on his face be replaced by a pleased look. "Oh well, their loss, more Lucy for us!" Lucy laughed, earning a satisfied smile from him. Their eyes met for a brief moment, her's sparkled with happiness that she had been overwhelmed with from the whole night, and his held the usual relaxed mischievous shine Lucy had come to expect. She looked away from him first and pointed up ahead. "There's my street."

Natsu insisted on walking her all the way to her house and then he gawked at the large structure for a long moment, making Lucy hang her head in embarrassment. "Thanks for walking me Natsu, it was really nice of you, and thanks for teaching me to not totally suck at bowling. I had a lot of fun with you and everyone tonight." Natsu smiled a big smile.

"Yeah Luce! I'm glad we all decided to go. And don't worry about being bad at bowling, you make the rest of us look awesome!" He winked at her and she pouted, he poked her bottom lip with his finger and grinned. "Don't be mean Natsu!" He laughed. "But you're cute when you pout!" Lucy knew her face must have been three shades of red at that comment, she tried to play it off with some incoherent grumbling as she turned to walk up to her door. She turned when she heard him call goodnight to her. She, again, couldn't help but smile and waved to him. "Night Natsu! Be careful getting home." He scoffed as though that was a silly statement but waved over his head to her anyways. Lucy watched him go for a moment before turning and going into her home.

She was sure she was grinning like an idiot all the way to her room, luckily no one was around to question her about it. It was almost ten now and Lucy was insanely happy and also really tired but knew there was no way she would fall asleep yet. She decided that she would make a date with a hot bath and Netflix. The perfect ending to one of the most perfect days she had ever had.


	4. Chapter 4

Sunday night arrived quicker than Lucy had expected which left her now curled in her desk chair frantically scribbling out math problems and punching numbers into her calculator. While procrastination was Lucy's favorite action, math was not. It wasn't exactly that she was bad at it, she was actually pretty decent at it as long as she paid close attention in class, she just wasn't interested in it and it bored her.

Lucy sighed and looked over to her clock, it was a little after 9 p.m and she still had two pages of problems to get through. She dropped her pencil on her desk top and stretched her arms over her head and then stretched them backward hearing a slight pop in her spine as she did so. She'd been sitting doing homework for probably an hour and a half by now and her body was cramped from sitting for so long.

Glancing around her room for a moment, taking in the beige colored walls covered in her various drawings of constellations and quotes from books she'd loved, her room was one of her favorite places, it was one place that was all her own. Her brown eyes eventually landed back on the math work in front of her and she stared blankly at it.

_How can I get out of doing this…I really don't want to finish it…I've done so much homework tonight I think my brain is broken…I'm never procrastinating again…_

Whining in her mind she then groaned and dragged her hands over her face. "Math is so stupid anyways, I don't need to know how to logarithm or whatever to write—Ah!" Lucy practically fell out of her chair when her complaining was interrupted by a rapping on her window which led to her small balcony.

Gripping her pencil tightly in a fist as though she might stab whoever or whatever was at her window. With wide terrified eyes she hastily looked over to the window which the sound came from, fully prepared to see a monster with fangs, green skin, and red eyes…or something like that.

What she actually saw made her release a breath of confusion and relief. At her window instead of a murderous green monster she saw spiky pink hair, hazel eyes, and a huge goofy grin, all of which belonged to Natsu Dragneel.

Panic suddenly shot through Lucy, _oh God_, what if her dad saw him or heard him?! Jude would surely kill the boy or at least freak out and try to have him arrested or something crazy. Lucy scurried to her window and flipped the two locked before pushing it open. "Natsu! What are you doing!?" She exclaimed as quietly as she could so she wouldn't alert the household.

Natsu poked his head through the window and smiled up at her. "Mind if I come in?" Lucy stared down at him with shocked eyes before stepping to the side so he had room to crawl through the window. He ended up catching his foot on the sill of the window and crashing to her floor with an "oomf". Lucy grimaced at the sound and paused, straining her ears to hear if anyone was going to say something or come towards her room. As far as she could hear the house was silent. It was a big place, there was a good chance Virgo and her father were on the opposite side of the house.

The blonde turned back to glare down at the boy on her floor who grinned sheepishly up at her. "Sorry Luce," He whispered to her moving to sit up, "and hey! I was kinda bored at home so I thought I'd come see what you were up to." He finished with an explanation that had Lucy putting her hands on her hips.

"So instead of texting me you decided to scale my house and scare the snot out of me?" She inquired. Natsu thought for a moment before nodding, "This way it was more of a surprise!" He held out a hand from his spot on the floor, asking her assistance in standing up, Lucy stared at him in disbelief for a moment before sighing and grabbing his hand to help pull him to his feet. She tried to ignore the butterflies in her gut at the contact with him and the closeness of him when he was at standing position. There were inches between them and Lucy for the first time noticed how he was about a head taller than her. Her head would have laid perfectly at his shoulder if she had moved any closer to him.

She was suddenly aware of what she looked like right now too. She had on a pair of bunny slippers, white and pink striped pajama shorts and a light, tan sweater shirt which fit her loosely. Her hair was piled on top of her head in a messy bun with a few straggler hairs escaping to frame her face. She mentally blanched at her "at home" appearance, oh well, nothing she could do about it now…

Lucy blushed when she realized he still had her hand in his between them and practically jumped away from him. Natsu however didn't seem to notice her embarrassment as he started to look around her room seeming instantly drawn to her wall of constellations. "Your room is pretty awesome Luce! And huge! Did you draw these?" He asked her in his normal voice as he looked over his shoulder to her causing Lucy to immediately 'shush' him.

The boy sent her and apologetic smile and pointed at the wall again. "Did you draw these?" He asked a second time in a hushed tone this time.

Lucy shuffled over to stand at Natsu's side. "Yeah, I, um, really enjoy astronomy I guess. Stars fascinate me…" She told him shyly. No one was ever in her room, she felt strangely exposed having Natsu see it.

He looked down the wall and his eyes took in the various quotes and other drawings she had placed on the walls in loo of paint. "And the quotes?" He questioned, walking slowly as he read along the wall. "Um, just things from books and poems and stuff that I thought sounded nice or spoke to me in one way or another." She told him, he seemed to think about that for a moment, looking confused, which confused Lucy. Was it that strange?

"This is really neat Lucy, and you're a pretty talented artist too." He grinned at her. His praise brought a small smile out of her.

"So tell me again why you're breaking into my bedroom?" She said, half joking as she walked over and sat on the edge of her bed. All thoughts of math homework gone from her mind for the moment.

Natsu shrugged, folding his legs to sit cross-legged on the carpeted floor. "I was bored and remembered you just lived down the street and thought it'd be nice to see you." He paused and then gave her a pointed look. "Also, technically you let me in."

Lucy rolled her eyes at the caveat but smiled anyways because Natsu wanted to see her. Lucy sat on the edge of her bed and pulled her legs up to her chest. "So what have you been up to this weekend?" She asked not knowing what else to talk about, she'd only had one other one-on-one conversation with the pink haired boy, she really didn't know much about him.

Natsu sighed dramatically and fell back on his back so he was laying on her floor. "Absolutely nothing Lucy, it's been so dull." Lucy raised an eyebrow.

"Somehow, I doubt anything about you is ever dull Natsu."

At this he lift his head off the floor to give her a toothy grin, "Yeah I actually spent it slaying dragons." Causing Lucy to roll her eyes in amusement. "You couldn't do that." She said slightly entertained by the imaginary world of dragons that came to her mind, that could make a good story, she thought absently.

"Yeah, you're right, I could never slay a dragon, they are too awesome." Natsu stated thoughtfully as though that was the only issue.

"Also they aren't real, so there's that…" Lucy pointed out earning a pout from Natsu.

"Just kill all the fun why don't you."

Lucy feigned hurt. "I do not kill fun!"

He pointed at her accusingly, "Fun killer!"

Lucy laughed and chucked a large throw-pillow at him which he caught easily, then a mischievous grin fell to his lips.

"Natsu…no…" Lucy eyed him warily, thinking she knew what he was planning.

Natsu didn't say anything, instead he cocked the pillow as though it were a gun and sprung to his feet fast than Lucy thought someone could. Her eye widened and she scrambled to the head of her bed to grab a pillow for defense.

She hurriedly ducked his first swing as he laughed evilly. "Oh someone's got quick reflexes." He said. Lucy held up her giant body pillow to cover herself as he swung again and had the idea that if she could go for him when he had just made a swing he wouldn't have time to wind up for another pillow swing or to defend himself from her own pillow.

One hand gripped a pillow and the other shoved her defensive body pillow away from her as she lunged forward with a confident smile and a laugh as she flung her pillow towards his face. She seemed to have miscalculated her plan however.

Instead of her pillow connecting with the boy's face, his hand shot up to grab it while at the same time throwing his pillow right in her face. He laughed evilly again at his victorious move and Lucy couldn't help but laugh also erasing her pout she had accrued after the pillow hit her face.

"Oh you're so gonna get it now Natsu Dragneel." She said standing up on her bed and swinging her pillow at him repeatedly while he laughed too much to retaliate and could only hole his arms up to defend his face from the soft pillow.

Suddenly Lucy found herself squealing as her legs were swept out from under her and she was falling on her bed. Natsu had grabbed her legs around her knees and pulled her legs so she would fall, dropping her pillow in the process.

Then he was pinning her wrists to the bed hovering over her, both of them grinning and breathless from all the laughing and pillow fighting.

"Okay," he panted regaining his composure, "I call a truce, you're relentless."

Lucy laughed, her eyes bright with excitement. This was so much better than math homework.

"Okay fine, a truce it is, guess someone can't take the heat." She said with a triumphant smile, finding her breathing coming easier now.

Natsu rolled his eyes, "Oh yeah," He started sarcastically, "that's it." He looked down at her, she could feel his breath on her face and she now realized the position they were in and how close their faces were. Lucy could feel her heartbeat increasing and a small blush rising to her cheeks and she swore his face was getting closer.

Natsu's eyes widened fractionally as he seemed to realize the position they were in. He suddenly pushed away from her bed, releasing her wrists as he did so. "I'll beat you next time." He laughed lightly, scratching the back of his neck nervously as he looked away to hide his pink cheeks.

_"Lucy? Are you okay in there? Is someone here?"_

Lucy's head snapped to look towards her door with terrified eyes. Her father's voice. _'Oh crap!'_ She thought before springing off her bed, the moment with Natsu forgotten. Now he had to go. Quick.

"Natsu!" She whispered as urgently as she could. "You have to go! _Now!_" She got behind him, placing her hands on his back and shoving him towards the balcony. He seemed to understand after a moment and got in gear.

"Oh! Okay!" He said, his awkwardness seemingly forgotten. "I'll see you tomorrow Luce!" He said as he began to crawl out of the window then, much to Lucy's horror, he paused, "I'm glad we got to hang out tonight." He said smiling up at her. She smiled softly at him. "Yeah, me too, I'll see you tomorrow. Goodnight Natsu."

A knock came to her door, _"Lucy?"_ Her eyes widened again at her father's voice. "Hold on!" She called as she pushed Natsu out of the window faster and closed it before he had the chance to say goodnight. There was no time for that right now.

Tossing her pillows back to the head of her bed she darted to her bedroom door before her father got impatient and barged in. She opened the door and stood leaning in the opening.

"Hey Daddy, did you need something?" She asked pushing her hair behind her ear, trying to be cool and collected and not look like she just had a pillow fight with Natsu.

Jude raised an eyebrow. "Is someone here? I heard a lot of noise, I don't know if you should have people here on a school—"

Lucy shook her head. "Nope! No one is here, I've just been doing my math homework, which I should really get back to if I want to get to bed at a decent hour."

She was rambling a bit and talking to fast so she shut up. Her father eyed her as he decided whether or not to believe her. She smiled up at him even though she was beginning to feel jittery at his silence.

Finally he nodded, "Okay, get your homework done and get to bed, it's already pretty late."

Lucy nodded and closed the door with a quick 'Goodnight' to her father. She found herself rushing back to her balcony, half way hoping Natsu would still be there but he wasn't. She sighed softly and shut her window once again.

Lucy shuffled back over to her desk as she redid her loose bun on top of her head. Looking down at her homework she huffed and sank into her desk chair. _Okay, fun's over, gotta get this done._

Just as she was about to put her pencil to paper and do some math her phone buzzed next to her hand. She looked down and saw her screen lit up with a text from Natsu. A small smile came to her lips as she swiped the screen to read the message.

_'Goodnight Luce'_ was all it said but it made her smile anyways.

Looking down at her math though she wouldn't be getting to sleep anytime soon.

Tomorrow was going to be a rough day, she would need much coffee.

**A/N: Hey guys, sorry for the wait and sorry for the crappy boring short chapter. I've been going through some stuff in my life recently and it's been hard to find time to write and also I'm suffering from some serious writer's block and I'm not really sure where I want to go next with this. If you wonderful people have any suggestions or anything you would like to see happen in the next chapter of the story please let me know, I will bake you cookies, of the virtual flavor ;D**  
**Thanks to everyone who is reading!**


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